When The Diamonds Ring

Dominique Leone “I’m The Police”

The chorus of “I’m The Police” ends with an admission: “I want to control the way that she feels.” Leone is singing from the perspective of someone in the middle of a protracted fight with a long term partner, and he’s trying to run out the clock on her anger and get back in her good graces. The thing is, he’s only deluding himself into thinking that he has any control over her — he’s not wrong to back away and let her be upset, but all the same, he’s not being nearly active enough in the situation to be remotely manipulative. Even if your intentions are good, any attempt at controlling another person is going to end up in folly, and most likely the other person feeling terribly insulted once they suss out your motives. This isn’t lost in the song. There’s a great deal of levity in Leone’s arrangement, which at once makes it clear that this situation is more of a spat than anything horribly serious, and sells the right tone for his hapless yet well-meaning protagonist.

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